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Published: November 18th 2007
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This blog has 2 distinct parts, the beautiful and the downright brutal.
We left Bangkok to head to Siem Reap, the gateway to Angkor Wat. This journey was the most researched and the worst of our whole trip. Basically a direct bus ticket is a scam, and can make the journey that took us 9 hours take anywhere up to 24!!
We ended up getting a government bus at 5 am to the border town, then a tuk-tuk to get us to the actual border, 7 km away. Once we got out of our tuk-tuk, we developed quite a few tails, mainly offering visas (another massive scam here). After finally getting through the thai exit, we had to wait for what seemed like an eternity at the Cambodian entry point (I'd hate to imagine what it's like at midday when all the direct busses get in!).
Once we were actually in Cambodia, we got a bus to the taxi stand, and then a taxi, our most expensive so far at a whopping $60! This was worth it however, as the road from Poipet to Siem Reap is not so much a road as a dirt track, and as
we tried to nap, we kept getting woken by our heads hitting the roof, I was half expecting one of us to arrive with a broken neck the road was so bad!
After a good rest, we got up at 7 the next day to go to see the Angkor Temples. Our first stop was Banteay Srei; famous for it's beautiful carvings, about 30 km from the town which was quite bumpy in a tuk-tuk.
After this we went to the Landmine Museum, which was a really humbling experience. The guy who runs the museum was a child soldier for both the Khmer Rouge and the Vietnamese armies, and laid thousands of landmines during his service. He's now devoted himself to finding and disarming the mines, and also has an orphanage for local children affected by the mines.
So, the guy has done some bad things, but he really had no choice as a 12 year old, and you'd think that a project like this would have the governments support? Wrong... they actually tear down his signs because they think his museum and work will scare tourists away from the area!
The thing that will stick
in my memory most about this is the sign explaining the logic of a landmine "the aim of a landmine is to maim rather than kill, as an injured soldier uses far more resources and costs more money".
The next stop was Ta Prohm, set of the first Tomb Raider film. I even did an impression of Lara Croft for a pic and I'd say I look better than Angelina Jolie did, I think you'll agree! This was our favourite temple, as it is mainly ruins being held together by tree roots, the sight is unbelievable, and there is even a huge tree growing right out of the middle of the temple.
After this we went to Bayon, a temple covered in giant faces, they're literally everywhere. On the lower levels, there are loads of smaller, more intricate carvings, the whole lot makes it worth climbing the rickety ladder to get up there!
Our last stop was the World's largest religious building, Angkor Wat. This is surrounded by a huge moat, and a wall. Once inside of these you walk down a path to the temple itself, which we were slightly dissapointed with due to the amount
of scaffolding at the sight.
The next day we were on our way to Phnom Penh, the capital city.
We went on a city tour, starting off with the Killing Fields (anyone who doesn't know, Cambodia was subject to a brutal regime under Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge from 1975-79, and this guy killed more people than Hitler. The Killing Fields are the mass graves in which the victims were burried, some alive.) as our first stop. What a way to start the day, I was glad we'd skipped breakfast.
The first thing you come to is a monument that looks really pretty, you take off your shoes and go inside and it is full of skulls, shelves and shelves, all the way to the ceiling. From this point on, I had tears in my eyes the whole way round. You take a walk around the site and there are pits everywhere (there are 129 mass graves, and 43 still haven't been excavated). There are various signs telling you brutal facts, and at one point you walk past the Beating Tree, where they beat the children, and at that point I was crying. After you've walked through,
you get to take a walk round a lake and come out where you started.
After this we went to S-21, the genocide museum; well if your starting the day like that, why stop there.
S-21 used to be a school, but Pol Pot used it as a prison to capture and torture basically anyone, even Monks and Children. At the end of their time here, they ended up in a lorry at the Killing fields.
The rooms have been left as they were, and there are various implements of torture etc. The worst bit of this is they have a whole block devoted to picture of every single prisoner, and there are a hell of a lot of pictures.
We have a new found respect for the Cambodian people, who aren't sat around moaning, and are getting on with their lives and looking forward to the future. Hopefully the trail of the two Khmer Rouge people arrested recently will help give a bit of closure.
Anyway, after getting the brutal things out of the way, and not really being able to find conversation all morning, we decided to brighten things up by going to
the temple, Wat Phnom, and saw a lot of Buddha's. Then we went to the National Museum and saw some more Buddha's.
We had a quick stop for lunch (I got a free snail with mine... nice!), and then went to the Royal Palace, which really does make Buckingham Palace look boring. Inside the palace there are many things adorned with gold, also lots of Buddha's, and a model of Angkor Wat.
The most extravagant things were the Silver Pagoda, the Emerald Buddha, and a 90 kg solid gold Buddha adorned with no less than 2086 diamonds!
We now headed for Vietnam, after ticking the boxes for Cambodia, hopefully the things there willl be more cheery, as I think I've seen enough skulls to last me a lifetime.
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Dwayne
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Safe
Looks sweet as a nut mate. I must admit that I do gag to go to Cambodia! Keep them coming...hope ur both well!